Warm welcomes in China for Putin and Modi as Xi sends message to the west

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have met on the sidelines of a showpiece summit in China that seeks to challenge US-led, western-dominated blocs and is being attended by the leaders of more than two dozen countries.

- Helen Davidson

The Chinese and Russian leaders, who are closely allied under what they have termed a "limitless" partnership, discussed Putin's recent meeting with the US president, Donald Trump, according to a Kremlin official who gave no further details.

The bilateral meeting was one of several yesterday for Xi, who is hosting the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. The SCO is a 10-member bloc of Eurasian countries, and the summit is also being attended by the leaders of 16 observer or "dialogue partner" nations.

Xi personally welcomed several leaders, including the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before the delegates attended a formal reception.

Xi told the welcome reception that the world had experienced a century of "significant increase in instability, uncertainty and unpredictable factors" and that the SCO had become an "important force in promoting the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind".

Footage published by Russian state media showed Xi and Putin, who arrived in Tianjin with an entourage of senior politicians and business representatives, warmly greeting each other at a photocall before calling in an interpreter for a lengthy and animated conversation.